Apr 24 Simple pleasure: A well-made bed

One of my favourite things about staying in hotels (apart from the brekkie) is that someone else makes the bed for me. I realise this may make me sound lazy, but it's not that I hate the effort it takes to make a bed; it's more that I appreciate the fact that somebody else wants me to have a comfortable and relaxing sleep.

After a day of sightseeing and wandering around a city, sinking into a pile of plump cushions or slumping under a pillowy duvet feels very, very welcome. If it's an upmarket place, the linen always smells fresh. It's as though the bedding has just been washed, dried and pressed for my pleasure. Eeeee!

I can remember, as a teenager, overhearing someone in a department store saying that they only buy 100% organic cotton sheets. I remember it because I thought they should probably find something more interesting to do with their time than judge the quality of bedsheets. However, now that I've sampled the smoothness of a crisp cotton sheets at a few really lovely hotels across the UK, I must admit that I too have a thing for them.

It's not just the bedsheets, either – it's the whole concept of a beautiful bedroom that I love: a room for pure relaxation, unwinding, dimmed lighting and rest. What better way to exude these feelings than with a lovingly-dressed double bed? I'm sure I'm not alone in this... zzz.